Surfing
Italo Ferreira strengthens his WSL lead with a solid runner-up finish, while fierce battles are unfolding early in the season. Here’s how it all went down.
As the WSL season unfolds, each stop reshapes the leaderboard. Here’s how the battle for surfing’s ultimate prize is unfolding, one wave at a time.
01
MEO Rip Curl Pro Portugal
Caroline Marks put on a dominant performance at Supertubos, claiming her second Portugal title and reinforcing her status as one of the tour’s top contenders. Navigating tricky conditions, she edged out Gabriela Bryan in the final, securing her seventh career win. Meanwhile, reigning WSL champion Caitlin Simmers fell just short in the quarter-finals but retains the yellow jersey as the tour heads to El Salvador.
The 2024 Olympic champion from Florida, Marks revealed: "It wasn't the prettiest final, but we'll take it. It was really challenging, but winning feels so good, I'm so pumped. The last couple of years, it felt like I was building momentum in the second half of the season, so to start off with a win and just be really consistent to be in the Finals Day for every event so far has felt really good. It feels really special to share this one with my dad. He doesn't come to many events, so to have him here is really good."
It wasn't the prettiest final, but we'll take it. It was really challenging, but winning feels so good, I'm so pumped.
Over in the men's event, Brazilian Italo Ferreira continued his strong start to the WSL season with an impressive run to the final in Portugal. Taking down top contenders along the way, he showcased his trademark power and aerial brilliance, landing the highest single-wave score of the final.
Though compatriot Yago Dora edged him out with a creative backup ride, Ferreira’s runner-up finish keeps him firmly in the yellow jersey. With momentum on his side, he now looks ahead to El Salvador, ready to defend his lead in the title race.
We still have a long season ahead, so let's keep it going.
Ferreira, 30, said: "It was a long week, and I was really confident, but I made a few mistakes in the Final. It's always a pleasure to compete against Yago, congratulations to him. I love this place, I have a lot of good memories. We still have a long season ahead, so let's keep it going."
02
Surf Abu Dhabi Pro
After the two-week-marathon of the Lexus Pipe Pro, the waves and pace of this weekend's Surf Abu Dhabi Pro could not have provided a bigger contrast. The United Arab Emirates played host to the second stop of the 2025 Championship Tour, and the Surf Abu Dhabi Pro, the first-ever WSL event to take place in the Middle East, ran flat out in three frantic days.
Amazingly for an event that ran in the controlled environment of the world's latest and greatest wave pool, there was no shortage of variables, as wild winds, human error and even a sand storm did all they could to throw curveballs at the contest. Despite all of that, or maybe because of it, the last surfers standing seemed likely from the first time they stepped in the world's first saltwater wave pool.
The winners
With the momentum from his sizzling season-opening performance still maxed out, Brazilian powerhouse Italo Ferreira looked like the man to beat as he bulldozed his way through the Championship Tour field. From launching huge aerials to ripping waves to ribbons with vicious carves and tying it all together without missing a beat, rhythmical from the moment he took off till he kicked out at the other end of the pool, Italo's UAE performances were showstoppers.
Ferreira reflected on good day's work: "That was a really great day! I was waiting for this moment! It was my first time in Abu Dhabi and it was really special. I put all my heart into this, everything that I did was with a lot of emotion."
I put all my heart into this, everything that I did was with a lot of emotion.
In the final, which you can watch in the video above, Ferreira came up against Indonesian man on a mission Rio Waida. Although the Brazilian was a clear favorite, Waida fueled his run to the end game on spirited self-belief, pushing his bulletproof surfing to new limits and not shying away from saying how much he wanted to win in post-heat interviews.
Similarly, Californian Caity Simmers's win seemed a solid bet from her opening heat. Although Simmers' casual demeanor sits on the other end of the character spectrum to Ferreira's outgoing bombast it can't hide the steely competitor barely buried beneath her effortlessly stylish exterior. While Ferreira's outrageous energy signals his every intent, Simmers's slacker stylings leave the viewer wondering what's coming next, as she zigs where others zag, with not a wasted movement or drop of water out of place.
"It really feels good when you can do well under pressure, it makes your mind stronger when you’re put in those situations," she explained. "It feels really good to get a win. It was crazy to see Molly did good on both of her waves so I had to get a score and was happy I got it."
It really feels good when you can do well under pressure, it makes your mind stronger when you’re put in those situations.
If Ferreira surfs quantitatively, Simmers is qualitative. Both are equally compelling viewing, both work.
Although the world champions tackle life at wildly contrasting pace they ended the weekend in the same place, alongside each other atop the Surf Abu Dhabi Pro podium, draped in the world number one's yellow jerseys, as the CT heads to Portugal.
The rivalry
Caity Simmers accounted for Molly Picklum in the final of the Surf Abu Dhabi Pro, to take her head-to-head lead over the Aussie to a staggering 6-0. Staggering because the two are evenly matched, as seen in last year's historic Pipeline final.
"It was fun watching Molly, and I feel like we'll be doing this a lot more in the future, so..." said Simmers. "Molly pushes me so hard, she’s a really spontaneous surfer, she’s a fun human, lot of energy, she can pull it together so well."
Molly pushes me so hard, she’s a really spontaneous surfer, she’s a fun human, lot of energy, she can pull it together so well.
The talking points
Beyond the winners there was a lot to unpack at surfing's latest wave-pool event. The main takeaway was the type of surfing required to not only encourage the panel to punch big numbers into their tablets, but win over surfing's real judges: the viewing audience.
Standard surfing was not the formula for success; if it seems safe in the ocean you can be guaranteed it looks bland in the pool. Those who attacked sections they might normally shy from, or dared to roll the dice on lines they wouldn't take at the beach, were rewarded handsomely. Jackson Bunch stole the show on the opening day, deliberately avoiding the tube to allow more runway to launch three aerials back-to-back-to-back and drop the highest score of the whole event.
Simmers's suave swerves were punctuated in the final by a foot-to-the-floor run to the shoulder, normally a wave-pool faux pas, followed by a big, on-rail roundhouse cutback that would have been more at home at Bells than Abu Dhabi. It led to her best wave in the final.
Jack Robinson showed that his catlike reflexes work in manmade waves too, with turns and aerials used as wild stalls that pitched him into the tube from never-before-seen angles, the point of difference forcing big numbers from the judges.
Didn't want to chance aerials? Rio Waida, Gaby Bryan and Ethan Ewing showed that insanely committed on-rail turns, bordering on the edge of disaster, will score exponentially higher than well-executed but risk-free versions.
The podium
- Caity Simmer (USA) and Italo Ferreira (BRA)
- Molly Picklum (AUS) and Rio Waida (IDR)
- Vahine Fierro (TAH), Gabriela Bryan (HAW) and Ethan Ewing (AUS), Jack Robinson (AUS)
03
Lexus Pipe Pro
The first event of the 2025 WSL Championship Tour, the Lexus Pipe Pro, wrapped up sensationally on Hawaii's North Shore with hometown hero Barron Mamiya going back-to-back at his beloved Pipeline. On the women's side of the draw, two-time world champion Tyler Wright became the first female two-time Pipe Pro champion, accounting for Caity Simmers in a wave-starved final.
To go back-to-back, I feel like that cements you as one of the best ever out here.
Mamiya beat Leo Fioravanti in a controversial finish after both men registered 17.97 two-wave totals. Mamiya won on a countback, his top-scoring 9.80 besting Fioravanti's high scoring 9.10, locked in while chasing a 9.11 for the win. After the judges took an eternity to confirm the crucial number hearts broke around the world for Fioravanti, competing in his second Pipe final in the last three years and still chasing a maiden win on the CT.
"Needing a 9.11 and getting a 9.10, it's tough," said Fioravanti on the podium, "but I'm very proud of myself for coming back and giving myself that chance. Congratulations to Barron. He is one of the greatest Pipe surfers of all time."
"This is such a special win!" said Wright. "I think I really tried to bring in a lot more joy. It was so cool to have a final with Caitlin out there. She's like the queen of Pipeline to me."
This is such a special win! I think I really tried to bring in a lot more joy.
"I wish the final was a barrel shootout," said Simmers, "But the ocean definitely slept during our heat. Tyler is a very smart competitor and she just got the waves. Congrats to her."
In the semi-finals, Simmers beat Molly Picklum in a repeat of last year's iconic final, in an equally thrilling encounter, while for the men Mamiya pulled together a near-perfect heat to end Italo Ferreira's spirited run. Lakey Peterson and Ian Gouveia were the other two defeated semi-finalists.
The waves
The 2025 WSL Championship Tour season got off to a flying start with fun conditions for the opening days of the Lexus Pipe Pro. An unusually large build-up of sand saw longer pointbreak-style waves running down the beach at Backdoor Pipeline, allowing for high performance, rather than the usual high stakes, surfing.
Competition was then put on hold for over a week with solid conditions looming on the horizon. The forecasts proved true, with insane waves at both Backdoor and Pipeline for the final two days of the event, and the champions crowned in front of a packed house on Oahu's famed North Shore.
The 10s
2023 Pipe Pro champion Jack Robinson locked in his first ever 10 on the Championship Tour, riding as big of a Backdoor wave as you'll ever see to perfection, before failing to find a back-up and being eliminated by tour rookie Al Cleland.
"That’s how it goes sometimes," reflected Robinson later, "This is the game."
Barron Mamiya added a 10 of his own, for an incredible Pipeline late drop that led to an almighty tube that put defending world champion John John Florence on the ropes. Florence struck back with a wild wave of his own that most fans declared a 10 from the moment he was spat from the tube, but the judges declared it a 9.63, and Mamiya advanced.
Mamiya had a string of excellent wins en route to claiming the trophy, but dethroning Florence, one of Pipeline's all-time greats, was surely the sweetest.
The colour
As well as broadcasting every day of competition on the WSL Championship Tour in 2025, Red Bull TV have partnered with Stab to bring a fresh take to three very different days of competition across the 2025 Championship Tour season. Channel 51 made its debut on the final day of the Lexus Pipe Pro, with another event in Australia and the WSL Finals Fiji slated to cop the Stab treatment later in the year.
Starring Damien Fahrenfort and Coco Ho in the studio, cheeky Aussie wondergrom Hughie Vaughan roaming the sidelines, and a string of guests including everyone from Jordy Smith to Jamie O'Brien, imagine Channel 51 as the loudest locals at your favorite beachside carpark hosting a podcast and you might be getting close.
If you missed Channel 51 the first time you should definitely hit play on the wrap-up video at the top of the page, and get excited for the team to return in Australia in a few months time.
The podium
- Tyler Wright (AUS) and Barron Mamiya (HAW)
- Caitlin Simmers (USA) and Leo Fioravanti (ITA)
- = Molly Picklum (AUS), Lakey Peterson (USA) and Ian Gouveia (BRA), Italo Ferreira (BRA)
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